The Acropolis, Athens

Last May, partly as a birthday present to myself, I spent a week in Athens. It was my first trip abroad since 2018 and I had a fabulous time with everything going well (aside from almost missing my connecting flight home due to delays with my first flight). My reason for picking Athens was of course the Parthenon which was absolutely worth the trip but as you’ll see in future posts there’s plenty of other sites to enjoy across the city.

In the last couple of years over tourism has become a hot topic of debate in Greece and as a way of mitigating the damage this can cause there are now restrictions to the amount of people that can enter the site at any one time. You can walk up and buy tickets on the day but the later you do this the less likely you’ll be let inside. I had pre-booked my ticket before I left the UK (€20) and chose the earliest time slot of 8am. I got there about 7.45 and there was already a long queue of people with prepaid tickets waiting but actually once the gates opened the queue moved very quickly and I was inside in about 10 minutes.

Although busy, and there was a bit of a traffic jam of people heading through the Propylaea up to where the Parthenon is, as a general rule it was possible to navigate around quite easily and people were quite respectful about moving out of the way so everyone had the chance to get the photographs they wanted. My first stop was to look at some of the statue remains near the entrance that have been moved here from elsewhere including this statue of Papposilenos from the Theatre of Dionysus dating from the 1st or 2nd century AD.

Then its further up the hill to admire the Ancient Theatre of Dionysus said to be the first theatre in the world built in the 6th century BC and to be the birthplace of drama. Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were just some of those who had their work performed here.

From here it’s up to the Propylaea the ancient entranceway to the Acropolis; made from marble it was never finished due to the outbreak of war between Athens and Sparta in 431 BCE. This is the one place that creates a traffic jam of tourists stopping to take photos. Yes, this is where you can get the first glimpse of the Parthenon but because of restoration works this side is marred by scaffolding – better pictures are to be found at the other side so my suggestion would be to carefully weave around everyone until you’re through the entranceway without stopping to take a photo. I wouldn’t says it’s dangerous per se but some of the ground around the Acropolis can be slippery and uneven – sensible shoes are a must.

And then you come face to face with the Parthenon. Erected between 447 and 438 BCE and dedicated to the goddess Athena, the Parthenon is just as impressive in person as I’d hoped. I admit to actually not knowing a great deal about the Parthenon’s history when I visited, but have since done a lot of reading up on the subject. One interesting note is that the Parthenon was once home to a giant sculpture of Athena made from gold and ivory (you can see a replica at the Acropolis Museum which will be the next post).

I was also intrigued to find out that the Parthenon was used over the years as both a church and a mosque and that in 1687 the centre of the temple was destroyed during the 1687 Morean War between the Venetians and Ottoman Turks when gunpowder being stored by the Turks was hit by a Venetian bombardment and exploded killing the 300 or so women and children who had been sheltering there. [Yes, next to a store of gunpowder]. Also in 1645 the gunpowder stores in the Propylaea were struck by lightning and exploded causing considerable damage. A lesson perhaps that you should always be careful where you store your highly flammable material.

[Before anyone asks, yes, I do think it’s time the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum were returned to Greece].

I took some moments here to admire the view of Athens spread out below me. I only really spent my week in Greece in central Athens so this was the perfect way of getting a true perspective of the size of the city.

The final place I was really looking forward to seeing, and which also more than lived up to my expectations was the Erechtheion. The Porch of Maidens – six columns carved in the shape of Caryatids (female figures) is really beautiful; you can get a closer look at some of them in the Acropolis Museum.

From here I wandered down to the exit, noting that it was getting considerably busier and that this was mostly due to the guided tour groups which were increasing in number as the day went on. I spent probably two hours or so at the site which felt like more than enough time to see everything. I really enjoyed my visit here and if you only have a short amount of time in Athens then it really is a must visit attraction.

I had a week in Athens though, and even though I kept to a slower pace than normal in deference to the heat I still saw plenty – so strap in for the next series of posts all about Greece’s capital!

Bonus Acropolis cat: